The Protector: Lifetime Cancels Ally Walker TV Series; No Season Two

by Trevor Kimball, September 9, 2011

Lifetime has decided to cancel their Sunday night drama, The Protector, after one season on the air. The decision doesn’t come as a surprise since the writing has been on the wall for awhile. While the Ally Walker series has some devoted fans, the ratings just weren’t high enough for a second season.

The Protector follows Gloria Sheppard (Walker), a single mother and detective in the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division. A recent divorcee and single mother, Gloria has to perform her duties as a homicide detective while taking care of her young sons, Nick (Sage Ryan) and Leo (Thomas Robinson). They all move in with her brother, Davey Sheppard (Chris Payne Gilbert), and he helps her raise the boys. At work, Gloria works on some of Los Angeles’ most high profile crimes with her partner, Detective Michelle Dulcett (Tisha Campbell-Martin). They work alongside officer Ramon “Romeo” Rush (Terrell Tilford), Detective Buerge (Larry Joe Campbell) and Detective Van Stone (James Hanlon), while being overseen by commanding officer Lieutenant Felix Valdez (Miguel Ferrer).

The drama debuted on Sunday June 12th to 1.89 million viewers and a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Viewership for the following episodes declined and the first six episodes averaged 1.37 million viewers and a 0.4 rating.

In August, Lifetime shifted The Protector to Monday nights at 10pm to make way for another new drama called Against the Wall. The first episode in that new Monday timeslot dropped to just 849,000 viewers with a 0.3 rating. The following week, Lifetime shifted Protector out of primetime to 11pm where the numbers (not surprisingly) dropped again to 600,000 viewers and a 0.2 rating in the demo.

Though there won’t be a second season for The Protector, Lifetime has indicated that they will air the two remaining installments, on September 12th and September 19th.

While The Protector has been cancelled, no decision has been made about the fate of Against the Wall. That freshman series has significantly improved on Protector’s ratings, despite a decline in Drop Dead Diva’s numbers.

What do you think? Will you miss The Protector? Was it worth watching? Should it have been cancelled or renewed for season two?

Just watched the series finale of the protector. Didn’t know it was the very last episode until I googled to see when it would be on next season. So tired of finding good shows to watch just so they can get canceled. What’s next Drop Dead Diva and then Against the Wall? What about Rita Rocks, oh wait, that one at least lasted 2 seasons….watch out now!! Quit teasing us Lifetime, get it right the first time, so we don’t have to keep being disappointed. I’m getting so frustrated, so much that I want to forget Lifetime even exists altogether!!!!

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September 19, 2011 9:11 pm

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Joe Conway

I will miss the protector. Boo to the suits at Lifetime.

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September 19, 2011 8:33 pm

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Angeline

Sorry to hear that it won’t be coming back, I thought it had a super cast, real pros and it kept me coming back after I had discovered it. Great job everyone, I truly am sorry to see it not last. PS; Give Ms. Duke a special hug, I have loved her since the Patty Duke Show.

Blame Lifetime! I agree with all the above that enough time wasn’t given to Protector to prove its self. Moving it to Mondays was not good then to 11pm was STUPID! Stupid also that Lifetime never ran repeats of the show. Networks FAIL to remember in today’s busy world that DVR’S play such a big role in veiwing their shows. Networks like Lifetime have the opportunity to repeat shows and when they don’t they should only blame themselves for much of the failure of a series! I really enjoyed the show but I blame Lifetime for wasting 13 hours of… Read more »

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September 19, 2011 3:13 am

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Elaine

i am so sick of these networks . I dont understand why they continue to cancel shows
i really thought since it was a lifetime network it really had a chance will miss it

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September 15, 2011 5:54 pm

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Lynn

Sorry to hear about your decision to cancel The Protector. I am disappointed. Ally and Tisha were great together. To bad, a great show about great women. Any time a show is moved, it suffers. It’s Lifetime’s fault, not the actors.

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September 14, 2011 10:23 pm

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Lillian

I like this show. Keep it.

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September 14, 2011 1:03 am

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dave

Another great show bites the dust and ignorant excutives continue to get dummer. This is a great show and shouldn’t be cancelled without giving it an honest chance for people to discover it. Just recently was advised by another family member about this network and it’s original shows and fell in love with The Protector and Against The Wall and have been telling all my friends and relatives about them and now they are cancelling The Protector and possibly Against The Wall. How do these idiots expect to build viewers when the throw away good programming just as people are… Read more »

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September 13, 2011 1:14 pm

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Herb

Great show Ignorant network excutives. I just recently discovered this network and this show but like NBC will be crossing this network off my list of to watch networks as it is obvious they don’t know a good thing when they have it.

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September 13, 2011 1:07 pm

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cmbski35

My mom and I love this show and watch it religously. We are VERY disappointed that this is being cancelled. This seems to be a recurring them with cable networks. I hope someone in Lifetime will WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!

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September 13, 2011 9:02 am

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Mike

It’s a shame. One of the best shows on TV. Producers have to be some of the biggest dolts out there.

I shall miss it.

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September 12, 2011 10:42 pm

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Sue

So upset! Really felt like this series had room to grow…now it won’t have that chance! So sick of decent shows going up in bad time slots. I really enjoyed this show and was looking forward to more episodes!

I really like the series The Protector and Againist the Wall. Let them alone to find an audience. Lifetime isn’t the normal networks… i.e. CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX. but my husband and I and several friends we have told about, like the Series also. Give them a chance. They were on for…. what….. 8 weeks!!! I was in Television and networks used to give a show 13 weeks as least and usually picked it up one more year. It takes people time to get in a drama or police drama (which we like), the networks are running tons of reality… Read more »

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September 11, 2011 4:44 pm

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Gloria

Yeah, let’s get rid of another show with smart, articulate women characters and a lot of humor. Seriously? It wasn’t advertised well at all and to move it to Monday night was very poor. How could it possibly have survived? Shows need time to gather an audience, then if you move them, people will follow. They should give it another chance. It did need one thing: a love interest for Gloria.

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September 11, 2011 3:43 pm

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robycop3

While not a bad show at all, it just didn’t have the Neilsens, and, like it or not, a show’s Neilsens are its life support; when they decline, the show’s toast, no matter how high-quality it is.